Entomologist in Sichuan Tang Clan Chapter 367

367
Ice and Vortex 6

As we returned to the forest near where the boat was anchored after searching for information in the village, we couldn’t see an inch ahead.

The warning that Ji-ryong gave.

This was because the fog that had followed us since we left the village finally covered us.

The fog rolling down from the mountainside and the mist rising from Poyang Lake overlapped, making the surrounding area seem as if it were covered in a cloud.

“This way? Eeeeeeeeeee!”

As I was groping around to find the boat, the floor suddenly seemed to cave in and my body was sucked down.

-Whoaaah!

“Little dragon!”

Then came the sound of fallen stones and dirt sinking into the water beneath their feet.

-Splash! Splash!

I thought it would just fall down with the stone, but the sleeve was pulled.

It was Hwa-eun who was holding onto my sleeve to keep us from getting separated in the fog, and she pulled me towards her.

Look down, the water is dimly visible beneath the fog swaying beneath your feet.

Perhaps that is Poyang Lake.

Hwa-eun pulled me closer and said.

“Little Dragon, don’t move too much. You can’t even see right in front of you, so you have to be careful.”

“Okay. Thank you. Hwa-eun.”

It was when I was sitting on the grass, pulled by Hwa-eun, wiping the cold sweat from my forehead.

Suddenly, I felt Hwa-eun’s body temperature next to me.

There, a sweet scent wafted through the fog.

Hwa-eun came over quietly and sat right next to me.

They were so close that I could feel the warmth of their skin touching each other through their clothes.

“Oh, I can’t see anything. We don’t want to get lost or float away.”

I didn’t say anything, but Hwa-eun struck first for no reason.

Our Hwa-eun is cute, how could she possibly think of taking advantage of this situation like this?

Indeed, Hwa-eun was a woman who never missed an opportunity.

‘Hwa-eun, too. Oh, now that I think about it, it’s been a while since we hugged or hugged.’

Come to think of it, it’s been a while since Hwa-eun and I last dated, and we haven’t had much skinship recently because of the kids.

While I was thinking that, Hwa-eun secretly leaned against me, her body pressed against mine.

Now I can feel my pulse, not just my body temperature.

It seemed that Hwa-eun was suffering from acute dragon deficiency and that she needed to recharge.

What kind of charging is this?

I’m talking about charging the little dragon.

If you haven’t been in contact with the little dragon for a while, the little dragon element in Hwaeun is bound to decrease, and in that case, recharging is the only way to resolve the little dragon deficiency.

‘Of course.’

But here’s a slight question.

Until yesterday, everything was fine, but I didn’t quite understand why Hwa-eun was showing symptoms of acute dragon deficiency. After thinking about it a little, I was able to figure out the cause.

‘Oh, come to think of it, yesterday’s Eumbong and Jiryong···.’

Even Hwa-eun, who usually has little interest in such things, must have been reminded of it after seeing others do it.

You might say, “Why would you want to do something like that because you saw other people do it?”

This isn’t entirely unfounded.

Flower bear.

Hua Xiong is one of the many words used to refer to panda in the Chinese language, meaning flower bear. In its previous life, pandas were on the verge of extinction.

This is a result of a combination of habitat destruction, environmental pollution, and indiscriminate overfishing.

That’s why in the Central Plains, they put in a lot of effort to breed pandas.

Since the Yangtze River dolphin and giant soft-shelled turtle were becoming extinct, they wanted to save the panda too.

But breeding pandas wasn’t easy.

Since pandas were not interested in breeding in the first place, they did not mate even when the breeding season came.

These pandas are the ones who think that just sitting around eating and sleeping is better than breeding.

For that reason, pandas are decreasing in number and are not breeding.

Then, someone came up with an ingenious method.

‘Let’s show some po*n!’

If you show a panda a po*nographic video, won’t the panda reproduce?

It started with this slightly absurd thought.

This worked much better than I expected.

When they showed them po*n, the pandas started breeding and giving birth to babies in droves.

Of course, the po*n didn’t feature people, but a scene of pandas mating.

Anyway, if you need to recharge your dragon, it’s your duty to do so.

I put my arm around Hwa-eun’s shoulder and secretly pulled her towards me.

“Why, why, Little Dragon?”

Hwa-eun pretends to be surprised while secretly expecting it.

He answered in a romantic voice.

“Come to think of it, it seems like we haven’t been able to be alone together lately because of the kids. I’m sorry, Hwa-eun.”

“Little dragon···.”

To lighten the mood, Hwa-eun leaned her head on my shoulder.

Now, if I just turned my head slightly, the most efficient charging method for the little dragon would begin.

It was a moment when I slowly turned my head with my heart pounding slightly because it had been so long.

Suddenly, something black suddenly appeared between me and Hwa-eun.

“Ugh.”

“Whoa.”

As the two fell in opposite directions in surprise, the voice of an intruder was heard.

-Tsuru. “Dad! Mom!”

The intruder was none other than Bin.

『“Hey, Bee, Bin. How did you know Mom and Dad were here and come looking for me?”

-Tsurut. (Aunt Seol told me to go out to look for her because there was a lot of fog, so I went out and felt a familiar vibration, so I came. When it’s dark and you can’t see, only Bin, Rang-hyang, and Ju-hwang can tell who’s around, right?)

Come to think of it, Bin-i, Rang-hyang, and Hwang-i, the gentleman Ji-yeong, are kids who dig tunnels.

Even by the vibrations of the ground, you could determine the location of the other person.

If you hit the sea, it’s like a submarine.

Just as a submarine uses sonar to identify the location of enemies, it is possible to identify enemies by feeling vibrations underground.

It was said that he came to us with that ability, but although it was good that he came to find us, the timing was not good.

Because Dad wanted to kiss me too.

‘Gyaaak.’

“Oh, our daughter, you came to find Mom and Dad?”

“Oh, that’s right. Our Bin. How special.”

-Tsrrrr. (But what were you two doing?)

“Oh, nothing?”

“I was just waiting for the fog to clear.”

-Tsurut. (I see. Let’s go back. Dad, Mom.)

Bin, who puts one of his many feet into Hwa-eun’s hands.

We followed Bin-i to the boat with awkward expressions in the fog.

[I’ll see if I get a chance when I climb the mountain later.]

[all right!]

While secretly sending a message.

Raising a child and secretly showing affection was reminiscent of a special operation.

***

We returned to the ship and immediately formed a search party.

The fact that you can’t see an inch ahead because of the fog means that our children can move around comfortably in the fog.

I heard that the fog usually starts a little above the middle of the mountain.

Then, they say that no one climbs the mountain, but the story is that children can run around comfortably at the top of the mountain.

“Have you checked the location?”

Ji-ryong asks us questions as we arrive and prepare to go up.

“Yes, the mouth of the rock that resembles the shape of a dragon on Biryongbong is a cave, and it is said that ice is frozen there.

Originally, among the seventeen caves, six caves located high up on Mt. Yeosan froze one by one, as if ice was moving, but now it is said that the mouth of the dragon on Mt. Biryong is frozen.”

When I told him what I had heard from the herbalist, he nodded and looked suspicious.

“There’s definitely something strange about it.”

“Right?”

“It really feels like something has moved.”

“I think so too.”

There is only one reason I know of for ice to form in caves.

In a previous life, there was a place called Miryang Ice Valley, where the air passing through the rock layers inside the mountain became cold and froze into ice through adiabatic expansion in the cracks in the rocks.

Apart from that, there was no ice in the relatively warm autumn.

And in each cave, the ice freezes in turns?

This doesn’t make any sense.

Because the caves might not all be connected.

So the conclusion was that something was moving the caves near the summit where the seven caves were gathered.

After finishing talking with Ji-ryong, Hwa-eun packed some food in her bundle and entered the cabin.

Sister Seol seemed to be used to this kind of life, as she rolled up two thin blankets and carried them around her like a World War II soldier’s backpack.

“First of all, Cho, Yeondu, and Jeokwol, would you like to go together? The fog is a bit thick, but is that okay?”

-Chee!

Sister Jeokwol, who must have been bored, flew up and landed on my shoulder.

Behind them came the first and second.

“Hyang-i, Dad, you’re going to catch a cold in the spring, so Seol, Bing, and Dong-i should go too. The other person might attack with ice.”

If the opponent is an ice attribute spirit, it would be good to have children with the same ice ability to defend against it.

There is even a fire attribute incense on the counter.

I decided to pack this much and go up.

“I’m sorry about the others. I have to fly because the fog is making it hard to see, and I can’t take you all up there. Just wait a little bit and I’ll be right back.”

-Tsk tsk. “I’m always the only one missing.”

-Kissit.

Bin-i grumbled and Yo-hwa showed the bell on her leg, but now they were used to it and there was no big fuss.

So let’s start right off the deck.

It soared straight into the sky from the deck, which was covered in a mixture of mist and fog.

“Everyone, just go up until you get out of the fog. Okay? You too, Sister Jeokwol.”

-Cheeee.

-Tsrrrr.

-Char.

The air feels heavy and stuffy because of the fog.

It soared upward, cutting through the thick air.

My ears are starting to feel a little stuffy because it keeps rising.

After a while, the fog above gradually cleared and a bright light came into view.

“It came out!”

As if they were coming up at a similar speed, the voice of my sister, who was about to catch a cold, was heard right next to me.

And just as I had heard from the herbalist earlier, I saw a mountain range rising above the fog at a third of the way.

Because the mountain was so wide, each peak and rock formation rose up here and there above the clouds like an island.

“Let’s see, the five large rocks that look like old men are Orobong (五老峰). Oh, that sparkling thing is water? Then that’s Daecheonji (大天池).

The small pond that comes out in the same direction after passing Daecheonji from Orobong is Socheonji (小天池).

“Over there. Everyone. Choya, Yeondoo, over there. Red Moon, follow me.”

-Cheese.

As we pass Orobong Peak, where five old men-shaped rocks are gathered together like a folding screen, a large swamp comes into view.

The view of the swamp from above was spectacular.

It reflected the sunlight and shined like a mirror.

“Wow, it’s really beautiful.”

“I couldn’t see anything last night, but it’s so beautiful here.”

“I heard that a lot of people come here to enjoy the scenery.”

As we were passing through Daecheonji and heading towards Socheonji, chatting about this and that.

A black cave visible under the rock peak in the middle.

“Let’s go down for a bit. Yeondoo, let’s go down there for a bit.”

-Char. “I understand, Little Dragon.”

They say there are seven caves near the seven ridges of the mountain, and ten caves below them, so that is one of the seven caves above the seven ridges.

It was a cave filled with ice.

Let’s go down and look around the cave, and it is indeed a cave that was frozen in ice.

Most of the plants around the cave were dead.

I got chilled by the sudden cold weather.

There were also many traces of people at the entrance.

“Is this place really frozen?”

“Yes, I think so. Please let the red moon shine a little so that Sister can fly. I’ll look inside the cave.”

-Cheese.

Jeokwol lifted his older sister on his shoulder and took a quick look inside the cave.

Anyway, if I fly a little further and check the cave at Biryongbong Peak, I can find out what’s there, but I checked to see if the caves were connected or if there were any other points where ice might form.

The cave wasn’t very deep, but the inside was blocked.

Since the cave was blocked, we were able to confirm that the ice was artificial.

Nothing else seemed strange, and I was just about to leave the cave.

I can hear the sound of Red Moon Sister crying.

-Cheeee!

I looked over my shoulder and saw my sister pointing to a place with her antenna.

When I looked at the place my older sister was pointing with her antenna, there was a rock lying on the cave wall, and three long lines of scars caught my eye.

It was a scratch mark made by something like a sharp, hard fingernail.

It was not a wolf or a fox, nor was it a bear or a leopard or a tiger.

I also learned from my sister, who is a beast person, how to roughly read beast footprints, but these were prints I had never heard of or seen before.

If it’s a similar mark, it’s like seeing the wound from the fist of the main character who pulled out his fingernails in a movie I saw in my past life.

I brought my sister Seol and asked her what it was, but she shook her head.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before. Wow, if these are claws, I have to be careful.

“It’s almost like a dagger? If it touches you, your heart will break.”

I wondered what these sharp things were, but I guess I’ll find out soon.

First, we followed the group and headed towards Biryongbong Peak.

“Let’s go to Biryongbong.”

After flying for about an hour, the ridge of a rocky mountain appeared before our eyes.

The winding ridge resembled an oriental dragon flying.

Perhaps the flying dragon Biryongbong Peak was over there.

“I guess it’s over there!”

One end of the ridge.

The dragon’s head was pointed toward the basin below, and where the dragon’s open mouth appeared, just as the herbalist had said, there was the entrance to a cave.

-Thump. Knock knock.

A rock with water dripping from its mouth as if it were drooling.

“Do you think you’re drooling?”

“Right. Something feels creepy?”

I got off a little way from the entrance and approached the entrance cautiously.

But when I approached the cave, the inside was in a very strange state.

About five meters inside the cave entrance called Dragon’s Mouth, the area was completely blocked by ice.

Outside, the ice was melting and water was running down the cave, but inside, relatively intact ice was tightly blocking the cave entrance.

It was when I was leaning over and checking inside.

The light streaming in from the entrance allowed me to see beyond the thick ice.

“Huh, that’s it!?”

Then, my mind suddenly turns blank.

It was because something white was lying unconscious inside the dark cave inside the ice wall.

It’s hard to tell for sure what it is because of the hazy ice, but there’s something red visible where I think it might be a mouth.

‘Is it a tongue?’

If half of the tongue was out, it was clearly a serious condition.

-Bam! Kwakwang!

I knocked with my fist and my hand, but the ice wouldn’t budge.

He shouted at Cho straight away.

“Hey! Go and get Bin!”

I didn’t know what it was, but I had to save it.

The boat was heaving up and down, and I couldn’t come to my senses, which made me feel like my condition was very serious.